


The Pikachu Protection Crew

by Fireblasts



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Basically An Anime Episode, F/F, Fluff, secret santa gift
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-18
Updated: 2013-12-18
Packaged: 2018-01-05 01:06:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1087769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fireblasts/pseuds/Fireblasts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ash has left Dawn and May in charge of Pikachu for a few days, and Team Rocket has doubled their efforts to capture him. The girls enlist Pastoria City’s Officer Jenny to help them catch the crooks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pikachu Protection Crew

**Author's Note:**

> Secret Santa gift fic at the pokeprompts gift exchange on dreamwidth! Done for user kannaophelia, who requested some Team Rocket hijinx / some yuri. Sorry this reads so much like an Anime episode, or whatever. :P

“I don’t think I’ve ever been colder in my life,” Ash muttered, clinging to the giant blanket that May had handed him just moments before.

“You should feel lucky that Nurse Joy had some dry clothes for you to change into,” Dawn said, hiding a small as she looked at the shivering pile of Ash underneath the blanket. “I can’t believe you actually jumped into Lake Valor.”

“I can’t believe he actually thought Buizel would get in and play with him,” May added, unable to hide her grin at Ash’s someone questionable decisions.

“Buizel’s a Water-type Pokemon!” Ash said, trying to defend himself. “I didn’t know he wouldn’t like the cold water. We’re still getting to know each other. He is originally Dawn’s Pokemon, after all.”

“Makes no difference,” Dawn countered. “You traded for him, and you decided to jump into a freezing cold lake.”

“Why would they hold the Wallace Cup on a lake anyway?” Ash grumbled, not entirely expecting an answer.

The trio was sitting upstairs in the Pastoria City Pokemon Center, Ash covered by a blanket while wearing the plain t-shirt and sweatpants Nurse Joy had found for him while his clothes dried. Pikachu sat in May’s lap, not willing to touch the still-soaking Ash. Ash sneezed loudly all of a sudden, causing Pikachu to jump up from his sitting position.

Shortly after the sneeze, a trio of yelps and a crashing sound came from outside. Dawn hurried to the window and her eyes narrowed when she saw what had made the commotion.

“Team Rocket,” she said, loud enough so that Ash and May could hear her, as she looked down and the sprawled out forms of the known criminals and a collapsed ladder. “They must’ve been looking through the window, spying on us!”

Ash groaned, and then sighed. “If they know I’m sick, they’ll try twice as hard to steal Pikachu. Hiding upstairs in a Pokemon Center won’t stop them either, knowing them.”

May stroked Pikachu’s head, glancing between Ash and Dawn. “Well,” she said, shrugging, “I can stay here in Sinnoh a few more days. Until you get better again, or until Brock comes back from visiting his family. Dawn and I can take Pikachu around Pastoria and look after him for you, right Dawn?”

Dawn turned around from the window and smiled, nodding. “Of course we can! We’ll be the best caretaking duo Pikachu’s ever had!”

May seemed to get energized by Dawn’s enthusiasm, and stood up suddenly, causing Pikachu to leap from her lap and onto the couch next to the shivering Ash. “That’s right! The Pikachu Protection Crew can do it like nobody else can!”

“Is it really a ‘crew’ if it’s just the two of you?” Ash asked, grinning at his two friends despite his cold. “You two are the best!” He looked at Pikachu, who was pumping his fists in the air as well. “You okay with hanging out with Dawn and May for a few days?”

Pikachu leaped from the couch and onto May’s shoulders, cheeks sparking with electricity.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’ then,” Dawn laughed.

/

Outside the Pokemon Center, Jessie struggled to her feet after the fall, using James’s stomach as a brace to stand, knocking the wind back out of him.

“Meeeowwwwwwwth, that hurt,” Meowth said, stretching out his arms after hopping back to his feet.

“My beautiful skull,” Jessie wept quietly, “I’m going to have such a bruise on the back of my head, and it’s all that little twerp’s fault!”

“Isn’t it more of your fault, since you lost your balance after the kid sneezed?”

“My fault? James is the one who was supposed to be holding the ladder!”

“Could one of you help me up?” James muttered weakly from the ground, clutching his head. “Everything looks a little upside-down.”

“The twerp will pay for this,” Jessie said, ignoring James. “And with him sick and incapacitated, the only thing between us and that Pikachu is those two little girls. Not a problem at all for masterminds like us!”

“Can we start… tomorrow…?” James groaned, causing Jessie to sigh impatiently.

“We’ll need time to work on our plans anyway!” Meowth added, rubbing his paws together. “Those brats won’t even know what hit them! We’ll have Pikachu by this time tomorrow!”

/

The next day, Dawn and May were strolling around Pastoria just after lunchtime. Having mutually decided to skip out on the Great Marsh, the pair looked for something interesting to do, Pikachu riding on Dawn’s shoulder.

“Oh! Look at that, Dawn!” May suddenly exclaimed, pointing her finger at a large wooden booth set up not too far from the entrance to Route 213. “What do you think that is? Some sort of carnival game?”

“Let’s check it out!” Dawn agreed, grabbing May’s hand and jogging over to the booth.

A tall figure in a red suit and sunglasses, with purple strands of hair sticking out of a rather obvious brown wig, waved the two girls over as they got near the booth.

“Well hello there, girls! Isn’t it a pleasant day? And what a nice-looking Pikachu you have! It would be a perfect contestant for our new game!”

“Game?” May asked, looking at the booth. “Are you some sort of travelling street performer?”

“Something like that!” James-in-disguise said, grinning brightly. “My coworkers and I are part of a troop of do-gooders who bring games and performances to varying parts of Sinnoh.”

“Coworkers?” Dawn asked, looking around for a sign of anyone other than the man in the red suit.

“Ah, they’re getting the rest of the maze ready!”

“Oh, is that what this is?” May said, looking at the large tent that was behind the booth.

“You could say it’s kind of like a Hall of Mirrors,” James answered. “The three of you can enter, completely for free I might add, and enjoy getting lost in our tent of wonders!”

“Huh,” Dawn said. “This could be a great way to stay out of Team Rocket’s sight for the rest of the day, don’t you think, May?”

“Totally! It sounds like a fun way to spend the day too! You said it’s free? So we can just go on in?”

“Go right ahead, ladies!” James said, giving the girls a thumbs-up. “Enter the tent behind me and prepare to be amazed by the sights you’ll see inside!”

Dawn and May looked at each other for confirmation and smiled, then grabbed each other’s hand once more and entered the tent.

“Silly girls,” James chuckled under his breath. “They have no idea what they’re getting into! I better go find Jessie and Meowth.”

/

Inside the tent, unlike most of Team Rocket’s plans, there seemed to be a strange amount of substance. Though Dawn and May were the only two in the tent, with Pikachu still riding Dawn’s shoulder, it was packed at the entrance with large mirrors arranged in a maze-like pattern.

“Wow, this is so cool!” Dawn said, starting to walk forward.

“It’s a bit dark in here, don’t you think?” May asked timidly, gripping Dawn’s hand a bit tighter.

“Just wait a minute for your eyes to adjust! Keep holding my hand if you want to,” Dawn said, looking over her shoulder at May and smiling. Even with only the dim light from the entrance and a couple of lights further inside the tent, Dawn could see May smile and nod.

The two began their trek inside the Tent of Mirrors, glancing at the various strange shapes and sizes their bodies got distorted into and laughing. Dawn ran ahead at one point and found a mirror that was tinted with light that changed the color of anything in front of it, and the two girls found it quite hilarious that Pikachu was shocked when it looked in the mirror and appeared green instead of yellow.

May had slung her arm around Dawn’s shoulder after laughing at a mirror that had seemingly reversed gravity and made them appear upside-down, so Pikachu followed behind the two. There seemed to be no sign of incidence for quite a while…

Until the two girls tripped over a wire on the floor that had been concealed by the darkness! As they tumbled to the ground, confused, a bright spotlight shone down on them from the top of the tent, temporarily blinding them.

“We’ll be taking Pikachu, girls!” Jessie’s voice called out from somewhere in the tent. Pikachu jumped around nervously, but was snatched up in a net despite his quick reflexes.

“Pikachu! No!” May cried out, stumbling to her feet and grabbing Dawn’s hand to help her up.

Jessie’s laugh echoed throughout the tent as the two girls struggled to retrace their steps back to the entrance of the mirror maze. “You’ll never catch up, girls! I know exactly which way to go to get out! Pikachu is as good as ours!”

“Pikachu!” Dawn called out. “Use Thundershock!”

“That won’t work!” Jessie yelled back, laughing. “This net is designed to absorb every volt of power Pikachu has! I won’t be getting shocked today!”

Regardless, Pikachu lit up the net with a Thundershock, which cast off enough light into the tent for the girls to be able to see where Jessie was in the maze.

“We can follow you out if Pikachu leads the way!” May taunted back.

“Stupid rodent! Stop giving off so much light!” Jessie grumbled.

The girls chased after Jessie, in hot pursuit of her with Pikachu’s Thundershocks guiding their path every time the Team Rocket member took a turn in the maze. After a few minutes, the light stopped and the girls realized that Jessie must’ve reached the entrance of the tent, so they picked up speed.

When they reached the entrance to the tent, they burst out and had to hold their arms up to the sky to block out the sudden increase in sunlight.

“Pikachu!” May cried out. “Where are you?”

“Pika-pi!” The two heard from the distance, and when their eyes adjusted to the light they saw Jessie running past the Pokemon Center, about a hundred feet in front of them.

Dawn spotted Officer Jenny talking to Nurse Joy on a bench outside the Pokemon Center, and pointed her out to May.

“Officer Jenny! Help! Team Rocket is stealing our Pikachu!”

Jenny looked up just as Jessie ran by with Pikachu in the net. Her eyes opened wide and she jumped up from the bench, waving a quick goodbye to Nurse Joy and calling for her Growlithe.

“The police won’t be able to help you if they can’t find me!” Jessie yelled, suddenly making a quick left past the Pokemon Center and ducking into the large building that lead out into the Great Marsh.

With Dawn and May following closely behind her, Jenny and her Growlithe reached the entrance to the Great Marsh and pushed through the doors, yelling at the people who were inside the building to get out of the way or risk obstructing official police business.

The girls entered the Great Marsh itself, and stopped to catch their breath next to Officer Jenny. She turned to Dawn and May and shook their hands. “Don’t worry, girls. I’ve called for backup to wait out front. The three of us will spread out through the Marsh and try and chase Team Rocket out so they can be apprehended. We’ll get your Pikachu back!”

“That’s what you twerps think!” Meowth cried out from above the trio. He was scaling the building of the Great Marsh with a large squirming sack trailing behind him. “Jessie already gave me the package! And here comes James to pick me up! Team Rocket’s actually gonna get away this time!”

The Team Rocket hot air balloon suddenly came into view over the Great Marsh, with James lowering it so that Meowth could toss him the sack containing Pikachu.

May snapped to attention suddenly, grabbing a Pokeball from her belt. “Beautifly, go!” Her Pokemon burst from its ball, and sensing that May needed its assistance, jumped straight into action. “Aerial Ace! Cut Pikachu free!”

Dawn grabbed a Pokeball as well, calling forth her Buneary. “Buneary, use Bounce! Catch Pikachu before it falls!’

Meowth’s eyes grew wide as Beautifly suddenly appeared below it and sliced at the bag containing Pikachu with intense wind. He tried to hold the pieces of the bag together, but unfortunately ended up letting go of the building he was scaling in the process and began tumbling down to the muck of the Great Marsh alongside Pikachu.

Buneary leapt up next to Pikachu and the two embraced, Pikachu’s cheeks sparking with electricity as it shocked Meowth with an angry Thunderbolt before Buneary sprang back down to Dawn, who scooped Pikachu up.

Meowth flailed and yelled as he headed straight for a deep part of the Marsh, but Jessie jumped out of her hiding spot in the bushes and caught him in mid-air, the two of them ungracefully landing in the mud with a loud squishing sound.

“You’ll regret this!” Jessie yelled, trying to stand up despite the mud that was clinging to her legs.

James quickly lowered a rope bridge from the hot air balloon down to his stranded companions. Officer Jenny yelled at them to halt, but they obviously didn’t heed her warning.

“Growlithe, use Ember to burn the rope! We can’t let these criminals escape!”

“Carnivine!” James called out, throwing a Pokeball down to Jessie. “Knock that pup out of the way with Vine Whip!”

James’s Pokemon burst from the ball next to Growlithe and knocked it out of the way before it could get off an Ember that would stop Jessie and Meowth from retreating. When they were far enough in the air that Growlithe wouldn’t be able to hit them, Jessie recalled Carnivine and taunted the trio below her by sticking her tongue out.

“Better luck next time! We’ll get Pikachu one day, you twerps!”

May frowned. She looked at Beautifly, who seemed to know exactly what she wanted. “Silver Wind! Let’s give them a little draft, shall we? Send them all the way to Veilstone, Beautifly!”

The butterfly-like Pokemon whipped up a massive wind of dust and sent it careening at the Meowth balloon. Pikachu, still angry at being captured, added its own spark to the wind, sending Team Rocket high up into the sky and launching fireworks at the top of the Great Marsh from the combination of electricity and dust.

“Team Rocket’s blasting off again!”

“Music to my ears,” Dawn said, hugging May in celebration.

/

“Thanks for looking at Pikachu while I was sick you two,” Ash cheered, pumping a fist into the air a few days later. “Can’t believe Team Rocket set up an entire tent of mirrors just to catch Pikachu! He sure is one amazing Pokemon, huh?” Pikachu ran up and down Ash’s leg, glad to see his trainer healthy again. “But you two are awesome too! Thanks for saving him!”

May grabbed Dawn’s hand and lifted it up in the air as if proclaiming her the winner of a wrestling match. The two laughed heartily and hugged once again, patting each other on the back for a job well done.

“Do you think Beautifly actually managed to send Team Rocket all the way to Veilstone?” Dawn asked.

“Wherever they landed, I hope they got what they deserved!”

/

Sitting around a campfire in the woods outside of Lake Valor, all three members of the Team Rocket trio were covered in makeshift blankets and shivering heavily.

“Stupid butterfly,” James muttered. “Can’t believe we ended up landing in Lake Valor. So cold!”

“You’re telling me!” Meowth complained. “I’ve got fur! I think I’m still wet and it’s been three days!”

“My hair! Ruined!” Jessie sobbed. “Bested by children! Again!”

Singing their own separate complaints, the trio huddled together for warmth as night closed in.

“Next time, though…!”


End file.
